Welton Understanding the Seven Churches of Revelation

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-68222-560-8
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 194 Seiten

Join Dr. Jonathan Welton as he takes you back in time to the seven churches of ancient Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The Apostle John wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ to seven literal churches and gave them a magnificent picture of the new covenant world replacing the old covenant world. In his warm and casual style, Jonathan takes you inside the first century churches and reveals their themes · Ephesus: Revival City · Smyrna: The Persecuted Church · Pergamum: Roman Capital · Thyatira: The Trade Guilds · Sardis: Thief in the Night · Philadelphia: Earthquake Town · Laodicea: Vomitville In these seven letters, Jesus declared amazing and mysterious things to the original readers; modern readers have overlooked many of these insights. This book, without being confusing or complex, will take you deep into the truths hidden in these letters.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Welton, Jonathan

Leseproben

The historical-contextual method begins with the questions who, where, when, what, and why. These questions help us play the detective with the Revelation letters in order to understand, as much as possible, what was really going on when John wrote them. In this chapter, we will answer these questions in an overarching manner, as they relate to the letters as a group and to the Book of Revelation as a whole. In later chapters, we will delve more deeply into the historical context of each individual letter. WHO? The first question is: who wrote the letter, and who received the letter? The apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation while exiled on the Isle of Patmos. I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 1:9). While John was on Patmos, Jesus appeared to him and gave him seven messages for seven literal and historic churches in first century Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. WHERE? The second question is where was John, and where was he writing to? John had been imprisoned on the Island of Patmos, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea (or “Great Sea”) about sixty miles off the coast of Turkey. Greece is northwest of Patmos, and Turkey is east. Israel is southeast. John had been exiled from the mainland to this little island, and there he wrote these letters to seven churches on the mainland. Later in his life, John returned to the mainland and lived out the remainder of his days in Ephesus. The cities that John wrote to were cities in Turkey along a major Roman road. The nearest port city was Ephesus. From there, the road went to Smyrna, then Pergamum (The Roman headquarters for Asia Minor), then Thyatira, then Sardis, then Philadelphia, and finally Laodicea. This is the order of the letters he wrote, and it’s the order in which a courier would have delivered them. Scholars believe the order of the cities in the seven letters follows an ancient postal route.7 WHEN? The third question is, when was this written? In this case, the answer is complicated. While the text clearly states who and where, it does not tell us when. And the dating of this letter has been fiercely debated among theologians. The reason when matters is because it helps us understand the what and why of the letter. Whether Revelation was written before or after one of the biggest events in Jewish history—the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem—makes a significant difference in how we understand its purpose and meaning. Those who believe Revelation was written about future endtime events tend to hold to a later dating, after AD 70. This dating is based almost entirely on a quote from the Church father, Irenaeus. Writing in AD 180, Irenaeus said, “For it was seen not very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.”8 This seems to indicate that the apostle John wrote Revelation during the reign of Domitian in AD 96. However, Kenneth Gentry (and others) have pointed out that this quote is unclear and has possibly been mistranslated. The usual translation of the pronoun is “it,” but the original language is ambiguous about what the pronoun refers back to (the vision, the written book, or the apostle John). In other words, it could just as easily be translated, “For he [John] was seen not very long time since….”9 Since John lived till nearly AD 100, this could be a very reasonable translation. And considering the other evidence in favor of an earlier dating of the Book of Revelation, it seems to also be the more logical translation. Without this one ambiguous sentence from Irenaeus, all the evidence from within John’s writing itself clearly points to a date of writing prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Even if we accept Irenaeus’ statement as it is typically translated, it is not conclusive evidence in favor of a later dating since Domitian also ruled Rome during AD 70. After the death of Nero, the Roman Empire experienced a lot of chaos and upheaval, including the rapid succession of multiple emperors. Domitian was one of those rulers, and he sat on the throne for nine months during the year AD 70.10 This means Irenaeus’ statement could point to a date just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. Compared to the evidence for a later date, the evidence that supports a pre–AD 70 dating of Revelation is abundant.11 We will only touch briefly on a few of the evidences here. First, it is logical to assume that if a traumatic event like the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple system had happened prior to the writing of the New Testament, that event would have been mentioned in some way. It affected Jewish life and religion from top to bottom in very significant ways. Yet it is not mentioned or alluded to as a past event at all in the New Testament. It is very difficult to believe that, had Revelation been written after AD 70, John would not have mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, especially since both Jerusalem and the Temple are featured in the book. Second, the earliest manuscript, called the Syriac Peshitta, has this statement at the beginning of the Book of Revelation: “Again, the Revelation, which was upon John, the Holy Evangelist from God, when he was on the island of Patmos where he was thrown by the Emperor Nero.” This clearly indicates that the book was written during the reign of Nero, in AD 54–68. Third, the internal evidence in the seven letters of Revelation clearly points to a pre–AD 70 writing. For example, Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 refer to the “synagogue of Satan” and the Jewish persecution of the Church in both Smyrna and Philadelphia. This persecution of Christians by Jews was specific to the time period prior to AD 70. In AD 70, in response to the Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire, Rome sent Titus to Jerusalem, where he decimated the city and slaughtered 1.1 million Jews.12 And on his way to and from Jerusalem, he slaughtered as many Jews as he could all across the Roman Empire. In total, millions of Jews died, and after AD 70, they were never again in a position to persecute Christians. Thus, these references to the synagogue of Satan only make sense if the book was written before AD 70. Fourth, John wrote his letters with incredible urgency about what was soon going to overtake these churches. Four times in the first three chapters he emphasizes the nearness of the prophesied Great Tribulation: • What must shortly take place (see Rev. 1:1) • For the time is near (see Rev. 1:3) • I am coming to you quickly (see Rev. 2:16) • I am coming quickly (see Rev. 3:11) If John wrote this toward the beginning of Nero’s reign, then it makes perfect sense, because in the very near future, the Roman Empire would launch a terrible persecution of the Christians in AD 64–68. And shortly after that, the Roman Army would come through Asia Minor, killing Jews on their way to destroy Jerusalem. This was a matter of great urgency for John and the churches at that time. However, if John was writing in AD 96, it would not have made sense for John to warn the churches of coming persecution. At that point, the Church had been persecuted for several decades, and under Domitian they experienced only minor persecution compared that what they had faced under Nero in the years leading up to AD 70. Though some people believe Domitian severely persecuted the Church, archeologists refer to this as “the Domitian myth,” because they have found no evidence of Domitian persecuting the Church.13 The only way to logically explain John’s warning of persecution, if Revelation was written in AD 96, is to push that persecution off to a far distant time. This is what those who believe in a future Great Tribulation do. Yet this completely overlooks the urgency and time sensitivity of John’s letters. The most sensible and accurate explanation is, instead, that John wrote during the Jewish persecution of the early Church just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.14 WHAT? The fourth question we must ask about the seven letters is what? What was John’s purpose and subject in writing? These seven letters are different from the other letters in Scripture. In modern terms, we could compare them to postcards. They are brief and to the point, and they are open letters in a single document that was passed between the seven churches. So, as Gordon Fee says, “All the believers who are to receive this document end up reading everyone else’s mail, as it were.”15 This is unique to the Book of Revelation. The other pastoral epistles in the New Testament were addressed to a single group or region, not multiple regions, as we see here. Yet even though they are addressed to different churches, common themes of commendation, rebuke, and promise are woven throughout the letters. According to N.T. Wright, this means that though the letters were specific to the seven churches, at the same time, the promises and warnings were without borders: We should not imagine that Christians in...